Chairman’s Report 2017

We started the year with a questionnaire given out to park users to find out how they felt about the park eight years after the regeneration funded by the lottery.

We got a really good response with over 120 returned, and on the whole it seems everyone appreciates our beautiful park. However only 60% were satisfied with the range of activities offered and the two favourite suggestions (over 75%) for additions to the facilities were a labyrinth and adult exercise equipment. The Friends have therefore begun planning for a labyrinth on the performance area. It is also hoped that the adult exercise equipment could be a future project in conjunction with the Green Space team

The park continues to be used and enjoyed on daily basis and the footfall total for 2017 was 212,553, excluding those not entering through the gates. Parkrun. Over the last year – 1962 different runners took part and completed 11214 runs. We also had 171 different volunteers. In addition, we’ve welcomed tourists from all over the Uk and from the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

Thanks to the city council for gifting us a grit bin for use in icy weather. We celebrated our 5 th birthday on the 20 th January – that&#39;s 43,950 runs, 5,083 different participants, 7,856 PB’s and a total distance of 219,750km run. On Saturday we welcomed 258 finishers, 17 first timers and a lone first time tourist from………….Penrith!

The T’ai chi group meets on Monday mornings weather permitting in the beautiful park, or in the manor if not, and Chances Park regular Healthy Living walk takes place every Monday afternoon. Details are on the website if you would like to join these groups. You can also check out the Friends of Chances Park Facebook page to keep up to date with events.

We are very proud of the fact that once again Chances Park was awarded Green Flag status and also that this year in July the park were chosen to be one of the venues for Cumbria Schools to do their orienteering.

In July young people doing their National Citizens Award chose our park as their project and did some edging, litter picking and general tidying. Then in September a small team from James Rennie School who were also going in for the Award cleaned signage and painted rubbing white on the park. Other park users said how nice it was to see young people working on the park and how polite they were. Thanks to Green Space for supplying tools and picking up all the bags of rubbish/leaves collected.

The one real disappointment of the year was that the Fairy Day had to be cancelled due to an eleventh hour increase in the exhibitors&#39; public liability insurance requirement. Hopefully the event can be reinstated at a future date. Body Mind Spirit Day in September however, was a great success and enjoyed by visitors and exhibitors alike.

Richard and Sue Dixon from RSPB helped with the annual cleaning out of bird boxes with good results. Most boxes had been used by blue tits, grey tits, tree sparrows. They also take on the job of any repairs required so thank you to Richard and Sue.

On the 1 st of December the children from Newlaithes School planted thousands of bluebell bulbs so look out for them in the spring.

This year the Community Centre hosted Christmas Carols in the manor in December and I believe it was as popular as ever.

Of course these projects wouldn&#39;t be possible without our fundraising events, which brings me to all the people who give their time voluntarily. Whether in helping organize events, delivering minutes, selling raffle tickets, litter picking or reporting lights out, all of these important tasks help keep our beautiful Green Flag park for all to enjoy.

I really can’t mention everyone by name but I must say a special thanks to the Greenspace team who are always willing to help us – working together on specific projects and in the day to day projects too – we do know how lucky we are. We would also like to pass on our thanks to Richard Reynolds our designated gardener.

We started 2016 with an extra special meeting to adopt the new constitution and bring the accounts in line with the AGM.

Spring saw us working with Diane Cannon who designed the new Activity Sheets and invited local uniformed groups – Carlisle 29th Brownies, Rainbows &amp; Brownies from Wigton Road, Rainbows, Brownies and Guides from St James – to test them out.

Then to launch the Family Activity sheets we had a family environmental day in May where we had the RSPB, Alister Neville wood sculptor (who did our Fairy doors), City Council’s Recycling team, Butterfly conservation, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and many more stalls bringing lots of things to do and specimens to inspect. The Activity Sheets are available to everyone; sheets to suite all age groups 3-8 and 8-14 can be downloaded free from the Friend of Chances Park website along with Nature Trail Leaflets, and also the three different leaflets of the varieties of flower growing in the Georgian Gardens throughout the year.

The park was a hive of activity again for our annual Fairy Day in July. Once more everyone got into the spirit of the day and I even saw a couple of men with wings!

Our biggest fundraising event, Body Mind Spirit Day in October was a wonderful day enjoyed by both exhibitors and visitors alike and raised over £1600!

When we needed replacements for lost trees, Joanne from County Council sent me some information from different sources and I applied to the Woodland Trust and was awarded 105 saplings. When they arrived in November we planted about 40 in our wild section of the park with the help of the Greenspace team and Newlaithes School and the rest were given to the Greenspace team to put in other parks in the city to replace lost trees. Carols at Christmas in conjunction with Morton Manor in December was another successful event this year. The Choir from St Bedes joined Carlisle Musical Society and St Stephens Silver Band and Val Armstrong hosted the event. Apart from all these activities, the weekly events continue – ParkRun, Healthy Living Walks run by volunteers, and Tai Chi classes.

There is also the annual cleaning out of bird boxes and Richard and Sue Dixon from RSPB helped with this job. Some of our boxes hadn’t been used this year, the weather may have contributed to this but in the used ones we had mainly blue tits and a grey tit, and what had been a paper nest -wasp. Some of the boxes need attention – discs missing or catches- and we are also having a small owl box made by Denton woodcraft which should be ready this month.

Of course these projects wouldn’t be possible without our fundraising events, which bring me to all the people who give their time voluntarily. Whether in helping organise events, delivering minutes, selling raffle tickets, litter picking or reporting lights out, all of these important tasks help keep our beautiful Green Flag park for all to enjoy. I really can’t mention everyone by name but I must say a special thanks to the Greenspace team who are always willing to help us – working together on specific projects and in the day to day projects too – we do know how lucky we are. We would also like to pass on our thanks to Richard Reynolds our designated gardener.